


Dove and Sword

by atamascolily



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Art, Daemon Settling, Daemons, Destruction of Alderaan (Star Wars), Female Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Planet Alderaan (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:01:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27790420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atamascolily/pseuds/atamascolily
Summary: A chance encounter in an art museum changes Leia's life forever.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Dove and Sword

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Inspired by one line in my other Star Wars daemon AU fic, [Separation](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24801148), which had a story in it I wanted to explore: 
> 
> _"Leia's daemon Aarial had his feathers fall out from grief and shock after destruction of Alderaan..."_

Leia sneaks out of the state dinner as the waiters bring in the third course on tiny plates. It isn't hard--she scuffs her chair back, folds the napkin in her lap and places it on the table, and announces to no one in particular, "If you'll excuse me for a moment," just like she's been taught in her etiquette lessons.

When one in authority objects or even appears to notice, Leia turns and heads for the door, doing her best to maintain a slow, dignified, completely unsuspicious pace as she makes her way out of the banquet hall. Aarial, a shrewmouse on Leia's shoulder, is less discreet, twitching in anticipation.

Sabe and Bunda, seated at a side table, turn their heads to follow her with their eyes, the same pointed look across two faces at once. Hopefully, neither of her minders pick up on Aarial's skittishness.

"You've got to be more careful! You'll give us away!" Leia hisses at her daemon once they're out of sight in the hallway.

"Sorry," Aarial says, not repentant in the least for his excitement. He shifts to a gliding lizard out of sheer exuberance and soars ahead of her on outstretched wings. "Let's go exploring!"

The banquet is hosted at the Alderaanian Art Museum in Sivaassa, which they've never been to before. Leia likes the _idea_ of museums, but all her experiences thus far have been boring: formal tours with stuffy guides with canned, patronizing answers to her questions.

But it's after hours now; the museum is officially closed to host the party, so there are no guards and no tourists. And if anyone catches them, Leia can always claim she was looking for the 'fresher and got lost.

Leia clatters up the staircase after Aarial, her footsteps echoing in the open hall along with her muffled laughter as she chases her daemon through the long and open marble hallways--only for both of them to stop short as they catch sight of what awaits them at the end of the hall.

It's a marble statue, but with a grace and living vitality that Leia has never seen before in a sculpture. Towering two meters or more in height, the woman's face is stern and calm and angry all in one. Her dove daemon rests in one outstretched hand, in striking contrast to the naked sword in the other. Massive wings stretch out from the figure's back, each feather clearly defined and following the grain of the stone. The sculptor has carved the wind tugging the woman's wild locks, the polished muscles of her arms, even the ripples in the chiton where it pools around her thighs.

Sabe says that when individuals are exposed to objects of great beauty, they can experience rapid heartbeat, fainting, and confusion, but Leia has never had an aesthetic experience like until now. "Oh," she breathes, lost in wonder, as Aarial collapses into a slack-jawed ground-sloth beside her. "Oh, oh, _oh_..."

A discreet cough behind them jolts Leia from her reverie. She turns warily as Sabe steps out of the shadows, Bunda clinging to the hem of her green dress--perfectly camouflagued if you don't know to look for him.

"Leia," Sabe says sternly, her hands on her hips as she gears up for a lecture. "You _know_ you're not supposed to be here right now."

Leia sticks out her tongue at them, her rapture eclipsed by annoyance. She's not surprised Sabe and Bunda caught them, she just thought it wouldn't be so soon.

"Who is she?" Leia says, meaning the statue.

"Ah. That's Paloma, the ancient goddess of victory, who holds the symbols of war and peace in her hands."

Oh. That explains the wings. "She doesn't have a daemon?"

"She's a goddess," Sabe says matter-of-factly. "They don't need them. We do."

"What for?"

"Depends on who you ask."

"What do _you_ think?" Leia asks, hoping to distract her tutor from returning her to the boring banquet for as long as possible.

Bunda does push-ups along Sabe's leg, his pink-striped dewlap flaring in rhythmn with the motions. His skin flickers to bright yellow for a moment before softening back to green.

"So we're not lonely," Sabe says, glancing down at her daemon with a fond smile. Then she clicks her tongue and gestures down the corridor. "Come on, let's go back to the banquet before anyone else notices your absence. You don't want to miss dessert, do you?"

Leia hesitates.

"I'll tell you a story about Obi-wan Kenobi later if you're good," Sabe promises.

This proves to be an effective bribe. Leia loves Sabe's accounts of her service as a handmaid for the Queen of Naboo, before she came to Alderaan to serve the royal house of Organa. Leia has grown up with these tales--of noble Knights, a generous Republic, and the golden age before there was and an Emperor and an Empire and a rebellion against them both.

(It doesn't hurt that all of the stories must be kept secret, lest the Emperor punish them for defiance. Leia loves secrets.)

When Leia returns to the table in the banquet hall, she finds her companion Winter calmly sawing away at her roast, Munin curled up at her feet in the form of a curly-coated dog. Leia envies her friend's ability to sit still for so long, a talent which comes in handy when playing hide-and-seek or enduring these endless, boring dinners.

(More than once, outsiders have watched the two of them at official functions and come away with the mistaken belief that Winter is the heir and Leia the adopted sister. Fortunately for those observers, both of them find the misconception amusing rather than insulting.)

"Told you you'd get caught," Winter says as Leia slides back into her seat and re-adjusts her napkin. Aarial resumes his usual perch on Leia's shoulder as a buzzbird, vibrating with suppressed intensity and annoyance.

"Yes, well, " Leia says with a shrug as she reaches for her knife. "It was worth a shot."

***

Leia's shenanigans notwithstanding, Sabe is proud of both her pupils. "You have different, but complementary roles," she says, over and over again. "And it is important for each of you to understand what the other does, in case you have to swap places for a time."

"Like you did with the Queen of Naboo?" Winter asks. Winter never forgets anything, much to Leia's chagrin.

"Yes, though it's harder for the two of you because you don't look anything alike," Sabe says. "Fortunately for our purposes, most people never really look beyond the surface. As long as their expectations are met, they'll never question their assumptions."

"What happens when our daemons settle?" Leia asks.

Sabe purses her lips. "Then it gets trickier. On Naboo, the queen always has an unsettled daemon; should he settle while in office, new elections must be held right away. Otherwise, how could the handmaids step in to protect her?"

This strikes Leia as an unfair arrangement, but Sabe purses her lips and says the system has its virtues in a way that brooks no argument.

Here on Alderaan, Leia will be queen someday, regardless of when Aarial settles, so she doesn't push it.

***

Winter is twelve when Munin settles, a dark-eyed carrion-bird that feasts on flesh. His charcoal-black feathers contrast sharply with Winter's snow-white hair and fair complexion, but the razor sharp beak is a fitting tribute to her keen wit, eidetic memory, and implacable stare.

Leia is thirteen when Aarial settles, a rock dove who bobs and cooes as he preens his pale feathers with pride. Leia doesn't have to ask why he chose this form. She knows.

A few bold fools in the royal court wonder openly how the two girls ended up with the "wrong" daemon. Winter and Leia take turns staring those interlocutors down until the poor souls stammer an awkward apology and hastily changing the subject.

Sabe, however, is pleased that both their daemons have settled as birds of relatively similiar size and shape so Leia and Winter can continue to impersonate each other. Munin and Aarial aren't thrilled with dying their feathers, but Leia and Winter find it hilarious.

***

Leia's Senatorial gown is a mirror of Paloma's: sparkling, white, pure. Winter does her hair up in an ornate braided crown, instead of letting it dangle free like the statue's, but otherwise the resemblance is uncanny. With Aarial perched on her shoulder or on an outstretched hand, Leia looks like the goddess herself come to life.

Her sword is invisible, but no less real. Together, she and Aarial make up the cutting edge.

 _Let me bring peace,_ Leia whispers to herself as she stares at her reflection in the mirror before entering the Senate chambers for the first time. _And if I fail at peace, then let me be skilled at war._

***

Leia fails at both. Her status as an Imperial senator does not protect her when _Tantive IV_ is intercepted with the secret Death Star Plans. Everyone on board is killed except for Leia and Aarial. But that is only the beginning of the horror.

She expected torture and pain. She had not expected the destruction of an entire world as a bargaining chip, or that the Empire would be ruthless enough to carry out its threat. Alderaan is utterly obliterated before her eyes and everyone and everything Leia has ever known--mother, father, Winter, Sabe, the palace in Aldera and the art museum in Sivaassa--vanishes in an instant.

Just when the two of them have made their peace with death, they are rescued, tossed aboard a barely spaceworthy freighter and speeding back to the Rebellion headquarters in the Yavin system. Leia can't believe they made it out alive, even as Aarial keeps plucking out his feathers one by one and scattering them on the floor as they study their unexpected new companions.

Chewbacca is a Wookiee and has no daemon; his soul is in a tree on his home planet of Kashyyyk, Leia remembers hazily from one of Sabe's early lessons. Winter would remember, but Winter is dead.

In response, Aarial yanks out yet another feather, and Leia hastily abandons that line of thought.

Han Solo has some sort of creepily flexible ferret tucked inside his pantleg, popping out when she leasts expects it like the punchline of a bad joke. As as for Luke, well--Leia initially mistakes Vel for a snake, much to their mutual embarrassment.

"A snake would be cool, but no, she's a worm," Luke says apologetically, after pointing out the circular dots on her back that aren't really eyes at all. "She's pretty boring. She doesn't really do much."

"Maybe she has hidden depths," Leia says, without thinking.

Luke blinks. "What makes you say that?"

"You do," she says, reaching up to trace his jaw where she kissed him back on the Death Star 'for luck'.

It's far too easy to make him blush.

***

In the docking bay before the battle begins, Leia overhears Luke's reunion with his childhood friend Biggs Darklighter. She is jealous--not because she begrudges Luke this tiny sliver of his past, but because she knows Winter and Munin are never, ever, coming back.

Less than an hour later, Leia regrets her pettiness as the blip representing Red Three blinks out on the monitor forever.

 _I'm sorry, Luke_ , she thinks distantly, as Aarial tugs another feather from his flank and let it fall. Leia stares, fascinated in spite of herself as it catches a gust of air and soars for a moment before falling to the ground.

Leia knows she ought to tell Aarial to stop, but with the Death Star only three minutes from firing, a bald patch is the least of their problems right now.

***

"Hey, princess, I got a surprise for you," Han Solo says, waving her over towards the _Falcon_.

It's been three weeks since their victory at Yavin--two weeks since the frantic transition to the new base on Eridan Eps--and Leia still doesn't know what to make of this man. Every time she thinks he's packed up and left for good, he keeps coming back--usually with that infuriating, cocksure grin that wouldn't be so bad if he weren't always _just_ in time to save the day. She wonders what he has up his sleeve this time that makes him so damn smug.

"This had better be good," she warns as he leads her up the gangplank into the _Falcon_.

"Don't worry, a little bird told me you'd like it," Han says with a snicker.

Leia glares at him, wondering if this is meant as an insult to Aarial, who is now almost completely bald. He claims to be molting, but Leia is pretty sure that all those feathers didn't come out on their own. Still, who is she to judge? She's tempted to start tearing out her own hair whenever she thinks of Alderaan these days.

They turn the corner into the lounge. Sitting calmly at the holotable, playing dejarik with Chewbacca as if the hell of the last month has never happened, is Winter, Munin perched on her shoulder.

" _Winter _!"__ Leia and Aarial scream with one voice, throwing themselves at human and daemon respectively. The dejarik game is forgotten in a mad tangle of limbs as Leia and Winter cling to each other, a mostly-bald Aarial frantically grooming Munin in dazed relief and joy, as one small piece of their family is unexpectedly restored.

Later, there will be time for questions and explanations, stories of survival and lucky breaks accompanied by Chewbacca's rumbles of amusement. Later, there will be time for whispered confessions in the night and all the raw expressions of grief left suppressed for far too long. But in that moment, she swears she could even kiss Solo, obnoxious as he is, for bringing her oldest and dearest friend back to her--one person whom the Empire couldn't take from her.

It's not enough. It's not even close to enough. Leia knows she must become more skilled--at both war and peace--before this can ever truly be over. Still, it's a much-needed balm on the raw and bleeding wound of all she's lost.

Over and over again, Leia prays to the goddess Paloma to guide her hands for justice in the long and bitter days to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Quick Daemon Key:   
> -Leia and Aarial - pigeon or rock dove, though I imagine him as a cross between true pigeons (family Columbidae) and ptarmigans (Lagopus spp.).  
> -Sabe and Bunda - a Carolina anole ( _Anolis carolinensis_ ) crossed with a true chameleon (family Chamaeleonidae).  
> -Han's daemon Neo is a black-footed ferret ( _Mustela nigripes_ ).  
> -Winter's daemon Munin is a raven ( _Corvus corax_ ), named after the Norse god Odin's bird ["Memory"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huginn_and_Muninn).  
> -Luke's daemon Vel is a caterpillar with multiple instars--this one mimicking a snake (like many caterpillars IRL.) You can read more about her adventures with Luke in [Separation](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24801148). 
> 
> Thanks to joysweeper and celinamarniss for the continued daemon discussions here on A03 and tumblr and all kinds of assorted headcanons about the Naboo monarchy!
> 
> Buzzbirds are basically hummingbirds with violent black and yellow coloration to mimic bees. 
> 
> The Alderaanian temple to Paloma is a Kannon Bodhisattva--a Buddhist avatar of Infinite Compassion--crossed with the Roman war goddess Bellona and the Winged Victory of Samothrace sculpture in the Louvre. (Yes, her name is Spanish for "dove".)
> 
> Technically, Leia experiences what is known as Stendhal syndrome in the art museum. 
> 
> I <3 the idea of Sabe teaching bby!Leia and Winter all her spy skills. 
> 
> Also, Han connecting Winter and Leia after Yavin is a nod to his and Winter's hijinks in _Scoundrels_ by Timothy Zahn.


End file.
